An object lesson in hypocrisy

"China's foreign minister warned Friday that attempts to politicize Beijing's Olympic Games by highlighting the Darfur crisis will fail. There are a handful of people who are trying to politicize the Olympic Games," Yang Jiechi said at a press briefing with visiting British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. "Their objectives ... will never be attained." Source. The original item has since lost a quote from Beckett where she was a little too supportive of the Chinese position over Darfur for anyone with a scrap of decency, but I suppose neither comes as a surprise.

Amnesty has reported on weapons sales to Khartoum, noting "Sudan imported $24 million worth of arms and ammunition from the People’s Republic of China, as well as nearly $57 million worth of parts and aircraft equipment and $2 million worth of parts of helicopters and aeroplanes from China, according to the data from Sudanfor 2005, the last available trade figures. During a meeting in Beijing, the Defence Minister of China reportedly told Sudan's joint chief of staff that military relations had been "developing smoothly" and said: "[We] are willing to further develop military co-operation between our two countries in all areas."The Chinese company AviChina Industry and Technology recently delivered six K-8 military training/attack aircraft to the Sudanese Air Force and a further six will follow soon"...."Amnesty International is concerned that the Sudan Air Force has transferred these jet bombers to Darfur without authority from the UN Sanctions Committee and is highly likely to use these newly acquired jets, as it has other aircraft, and the acquisition of expertise to fly the jets supplied from China, for indiscriminate attacks in Darfurin violation of the UN arms embargo and international humanitarian law, thus also posing serious questions about the systems of accountability and training provided to the Sudan Air Force to

ensure respect for that universal law".

Elsewhere, the BBC noted: "But Mr Yang said a campaign to boycott the Olympics is "against the spirit of the games. It also runs against the aspirations of all the people of the world, thus their aims will never be achieved."

And guess which highly populous nation in Asia with a name beginning with a 'C' boycotted Moscow 1980....